Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl Notes: Week 13

SCORES OF PLENTY

One of the most exciting games of the 2017 season was played Saturday in Denton, Texas, when North Texas outlasted Army West Point, 52-49, on a field goal with five seconds left. The game featured the Black Knights tying the score four times after halftime, the last with just 1:23 remaining. North Texas quarterback Mason Fine threw for 386 yards and four touchdowns, while Army signal caller Ahmad Bradshaw ran for 244 yards and two scores. North Texas won its fourth straight game and capped a perfect 6-0 home season, while the loss snapped Army’s winning streak at six games.

Noted author John Feinstein, who pens a weekly column at GoArmyWestPoint.com, has a recap of the game here. Read

GRATEFUL FOR GREAT GAMES

Army sports a 4-2 record in bowl games, and those six postseason appearances have been decided by a total of 19 points, and all by a touchdown or less. The most recent was the Black Knights’ first overtime game, a 38-31 win last year at the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl.

TAKING A HOLIDAY

Army is off from action this week prior to playing its biggest game of every season, the Army-Navy Game, on Saturday, Dec. 9. The game will be played at 3 p.m. (ET) in Philadelphia. An Army win would give the Black Knights the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy for the first time since 1996. Army defeated Navy last year, 21-17, for its first win over the Midshipmen since 2001.

A CORNUCOPIA OF BOWL TEAMS

More than half (eight) of Conference USA’s 14 teams are bowl eligible heading into the final weekend of the regular season. Florida Atlantic and North Texas share the best record in the league at 8-3, and the two squads will meet in the C-USA Championship game on Saturday, Dec. 2. Three teams (Marshall, Southern Miss and UAB) are 7-4, while FIU (6-4), UTSA (6-4) and WKU (6-5) all have six wins. Three other teams--Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee and Old Dominion--are one win away.

THE FEAST OF THE WEEK

Middle Tennessee and Old Dominion sport identical 5-6 overall records heading into their season-ending meeting on Saturday afternoon. That means one of the teams will be bowl eligible, while the other will finish one win shy. ODU has won three straight games to get into its position.

Erik Bacharach of the Daily News Journal has five things to know about the huge matchup. Read

THANKFUL FOR OUR PAST

Each week, the bowl is celebrating its 15th anniversary by taking a trip down memory lane with the “Top 15 Moments” from its previous games. No. 3 comes from 2015, when California quarterback Jared Goff closed his college career by setting Armed Forces Bowl records for touchdown passes (6) and passing yards (467) allowing the Bears to beat Air Force, 55-36. Watch

GET A SEAT AT THE TABLE

Tickets for the 15th annual Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl are on sale at ArmedForcesBowl.com. Options include: $30 (general admission), $75 (lower bowl reserved) and $125 (Champions Club). For $15 each, fans may also sponsor tickets for past and present military members and their families to attend the game through the annual “Host a Hero” program. Read

WHO WILL MAKE THE PILGRIMAGE?

With Army already committed, it’s time to focus the predictions on who will be playing the Black Knights on Dec. 23 in Amon G. Carter Stadium. UTSA (4) and WKU (2) received multiple nods from the experts this week, while Marshall and UAB each had one vote.